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An often-forgotten chapter of Billy Slater’s sporting career shows why the Storm legend can be a successful coach for the Queensland Maroons – and why he’s not the mentoring rookie some people mistake him for.
Slater has been handed the reins of the Maroons after Paul Green stepped down following consecutive beltings in the opening two matches of the 2021 State of Origin series.
He will head up a Maroons dream team that includes past champions Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston and Josh Hannay.
Not everyone is convinced that Slater and the other members of Queensland’s decade of Origin dominance will be able to translate their playing form to the coaching ranks.
Slater offers advice to Maroons fullback Kalyn Ponga in his role as Queensland assistant coach during the 2019 State of Origin series.
Fox Sports analyst Paul Kent has led that criticism, pointing to the fact that Slater is a coaching greenhorn.
‘How many games have they coached? Let’s add it up, between them how many games have they coached?’ Kent asked his fellow NRL 360 panel members.
‘Why wouldn’t they go with someone with coaching experience? Why did they have to go with the bells and whistles and bring back the Beatles?’
However, the Queensland job is not Slater’s first rodeo as a coach.
Slater was installed in a leadership and development position at AFL club St Kilda in the 2018/19 pre-season, a role in which he was hands on with the players on the training paddock.
Slater was hands-on during his stint at St Kilda as a leadership mentor, becoming a tackling coach and offering plenty of advice on the training paddock.
Ultimately his role at St Kilda was a casualty of Covid-19 budget cuts, but his influence was still felt by the club.
In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, St Kilda defied expectations to make the AFL finals despite being based in Queensland for the entire season.
The Saints went on to beat the highly fancied Bulldogs in their elimination final before pushing eventual premiers Richmond all the way in their semi-final loss.
St Kilda midfielder Seb Ross was part of that pre-season and said Slater’s impact was immediate.
‘He’s been awesome,’ Ross said on SEN Breakfast in 2019.
‘Someone that we all recognise at being at the top of their game for such a long time in the NRL and then comes across to the AFL system, his enthusiasm to be involved.
‘The other night he was going through vision at home up until midnight because he wanted to show the boys some figures.
‘He’s really enthusiastic about getting the club on the right path and he’s giving it 100 per cent.
‘Coming from someone like that, some of the things he’s been able to pass on to us about driving team standards and buying into how the team want to play.
‘He’s someone who was at the top of their game and was an absolute superstar, but first and foremost, he bought into what the team wants to do.’
Slater was happy to get on the tackling bags and get physical in his role at St Kilda. Midfielder Seb Ross said his impact was immediate
Ross said Slater’s role involved more than just watching video and offering advice, with the NRL champion often getting stuck into training drills alongside the players.
‘He’s just retired from a gruelling NRL career and we were doing sessions at (John Donohue’s) MMA gym in pre-season. He was the first one there, whipping the shirt off and getting involved in the tackling,’ Ross said.
‘He was doing the commando rolls and all the punishments we had to do. He earned respect really quickly.’
Slater was also filmed winning a wrestling contest with AFL great Aaron Hamill during pre-season training.
Slater has experience in the Origin arena as a coach, having worked as an assistant coach under Kevin Walters in 2019 alongside other Maroons greats including Justin Hodges, Petero Civoniceva and Thurston.
He has also entered the mix to succeed Craig Bellamy as coach of the Melbourne Storm and is believed to be the favourite ahead of current assistant coach Marc Brentnall.
Thurston, Smith and Slater were champion players for the Maroons in their decade of dominance. Now they are hoping to succeed as a dream coaching combination
Storm forward Jesse Bromwich has backed Slater to succeed and said the fullback was always chipping in with coaching advice during his playing days.
‘I’ve never seen anyone so passionate about our game and someone like Billy Slater as coach of this club, how good would that be?’ the prop said on Wednesday.
‘Whether that’s now or in a few years time I’m not too sure, but I’ll be really excited if that was to happen one day.
‘When he was a player, it felt like he was a coach anyway at this club; he was so vocal and he’s got so much knowledge about the game and I think he’ll be a really good coach.
‘He’s just really committed to the game and he just really loves the game.’
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